What the Storms map shows

The Storms map shows real, observed convective cells — not a model forecast. Every 5 minutes, DWD's radar network scans Germany, detects organised convective cells, and publishes each one as a polygon with attributes. You see the shape and intensity of cells firing right now, plus a 60-minute extrapolated forecast track for each.

Storms map vs. Radar (simulated) map

Both maps care about convective cells but come from opposite ends of the data pipeline. Use both.

• Radar (simulated) is ICON-D2 model output. It answers "where does the model expect storms to be at 15:00 CEST tomorrow?" — 48-hour lead time, no observation input.
• Storms (KONRAD3D) is DWD radar observation. It answers "which cells are DWD watching right now, and where does DWD think each one will be in the next 60 min?" — near-real-time (30–60 s latency), no forecast beyond +1 h.

Reading a cell

Click any cell polygon to open its popup. Fields:

Severity 0–3

• 0 — Weak. Advisory only. Yellow.
• 1 — Moderate. Turbulence probable. Orange.
• 2 — Severe. Avoid. Red.
• 3 — Extreme. Severe TS environment. Magenta.

DWD computes severity from the whole 3D reflectivity structure (VIL, echo top, area above dBZ thresholds), not just peak dBZ. A cell can have max 55 dBZ (hail on paper) but severity 0 if the rest of the metrics say "brief, shallow, small".

Max reflectivity (dBZ)

Rule-of-thumb thresholds for a pilot:

• < 30 dBZ: light rain or drizzle. Routine.
• 30–40 dBZ: moderate rain. Reduced visibility.
• 40–50 dBZ: heavy rain, likely convective. Turbulence probable — avoid if VFR.
• 50–55 dBZ: very heavy rain, hail possible aloft.
• 55–60 dBZ: hail probable. Do not enter.
• > 60 dBZ: large hail. Aircraft damage risk.

Echo top (m MSL / ft)

Highest altitude where radar detected ≥ 18 dBZ. This is the top of the precipitation column — the visible cloud top is usually higher.

• < 15,000 ft: shallow. Weak convection, common in stratiform rain and cold-air maritime showers.
• 15,000–25,000 ft: moderate. Turbulence likely.
• 25,000–35,000 ft: deep convection, thunderstorm territory. Overflight not safe below the top.
• > 35,000 ft: severe TS / supercell in temperate latitudes.

VIL (kg/m²)

Vertically Integrated Liquid — total liquid water in the column above a square meter. Classic hail-severity proxy.

• < 5 kg/m²: light convection.
• 5–15: moderate. Rain-focused, hail unlikely.
• 15–35: heavy rain, small hail possible.
• 35–55: large hail probable.
• > 55: severe storm, giant hail possible.

Cell speed and direction

Ground speed and compass bearing of the cell's centroid, expressed as "toward NNW (330°)". Convention matches NWS / NHC storm-motion reporting: the bearing is where the storm is going, not where it's coming from (opposite of wind convention). Bearing is computed from the T=0 → T+5 min forecast centroid delta.

Speed by itself is useless — 20 kt away is a non-issue, 20 kt toward your destination changes the flight plan. Always read speed together with direction.

Hazard flags

When present, DWD's algorithm has flagged this cell for a specific hazard: 🧊 Hail, 💨 Gust, 🌧️ Heavy rain. Flags are DWD's categorical output, not derived thresholds — trust them.

Mesocyclone

When shown, the cell has a detected rotation signature: severity, equivalent diameter (km), and max rotational velocity (m/s). Presence of a mesocyclone at severity > 0 is significant. That's supercell territory — hail size can escalate fast, and tornadoes are non-zero probability. In practice: give the cell a wide berth and defer the flight.

The forecast cone

Each cell gets a dashed polygon extending outward from its current position — the forecast cone. It shows where DWD expects the cell might be over the next 60 minutes.

Under the hood: DWD publishes 12 forecast centroids (T+5, T+10, …, T+60 min) with a 1σ position uncertainty ellipse at each step. The cone is the convex hull of all those ellipses up to the current slider position — so it grows as you scrub forward. Empty at T=0, small at T+5, largest at T+60. This mirrors the FAA/NHC hurricane track cone that VFR pilots already know.

Combining with the ICON-D2 products

KONRAD3D storms is a current-observation product with a 60-minute forecast. For everything beyond that, you need model forecasts:

• Convection (CAPE) — tells you the fuel. If CAPE is 2,000 J/kg and you're already seeing severity-2 cells at 14:00, expect more, bigger cells at 16:00.
• Radar (simulated) — the model's guess at where storms will be in 3–48 hours. Use this for planning tomorrow's flight; use KONRAD3D for today's.
• Significant weather — the ICON-D2 model's TS + hail flags, complementary to KONRAD3D's observed cell attributes.

Coverage limits

KONRAD3D is a German radar-network product. It covers Germany plus a modest buffer into border regions (parts of Austria, Czech Republic, Poland, France, Benelux). Cells outside DWD's radar range don't appear on the map — for those, cross-check the ICON-D2 simulated radar or the destination country's own radar service.

The radar network has coverage gaps at low altitude and in mountainous terrain (radar beams pass over low-level convection). If you're expecting shallow convective showers over the Alps, don't rely on KONRAD3D showing them — use the significant-weather map instead.